Luxury tips

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, December 23, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Luxury hotel companies could flash a half-decent report card this year thanks to a post-pandemic surge in demand. But they could do better long-term if management teams sharpen their focus on opportunities to woo well-off consumers who increasingly care about experiences.

Flight Centre, the Australian-based travel agency well known for its mass-market brands, is firmly fixed on tapping into the rising demand for luxury experiences with an expected 15 percent growth in revenue for the segment.

Travelers are hungry for high-end experiences, and there appears to be no sign of the luxury bubble bursting anytime soon, with China still expected to add weight to the post-pandemic revenge travel surge.  

Luxury hospitality is in the middle of a boom. As well-heeled travelers return to the road, five-star hotels are reaping the benefits and making up for lost time with expensive rates. But what is becoming very apparent is a new group of ultra-luxury players pushing the industry to previously unseen limits while catering to a mobile class of one percenters that don’t tend to look at the bill. 

Australia’s Flight Centre Travel Group is buying UK-based tour operator Scott Dunn for $148 million (A$211 million), in a bid to expand into the U.S., as well as the UK.

Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano on Tuesday toured the , the first sailing vessel in The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Capuano said in an interview that yacht-style cruises on the 623-foot — which hosts fewer than 300 people at a time — represent an important pillar of growth for the world’s largest hotel operator by pulling the levers of loyalty and luxury.

Sales and marketing has been a long established role in the core teams of hotels around the world. There’s a lot to it, but the role generally entails driving demand for a property, liaising with trade partners, and strategically positioning the hotel in the market and with press.

Would you like a luxury travel subscription from Inspirato with those Amina Muaddi Rosie 95MM Metallic Leather Slingback Pumps from Saks Fifth Avenue?

Remember the Skift 2023 megatrend forecasting that luxury hospitality will go a step further?

The Four Seasons wants to convey how its staff goes above and beyond the call of duty to entertain guests in its Based on a True Stay campaign.

A boutique hotel opening in July in the historically Black neighborhood of Haughville, Indianapolis, aims to tap into a few trends percolating in hospitality broadly: helping guests feel a sense of place and reducing the carbon impact of hotel operations. Tiny Urban Escapes will strive to bring a small, green oasis into the middle of a bustling Indiana city with luxury touches.

London’s luxury retailers fear the city is losing its pull as a shopping destination, with tourists from the United States, China and the Gulf flocking instead to Paris and Milan where tax breaks still offer a way to cut the cost of their purchases.

For more than two decades, outbound travel from China was a major rising catalyst for global travel, an economic engine spurred by the emerging middle class in the country of 1.4 billion people. Chinese travel could be felt from Vancouver to Dubai to Singapore with destinations becoming reliant on the steady stream of easily spending tourists.

The concept of luxury is as simple as needing to unpack and pack a suitcase less.

Bulgari Hotels & Resorts opened its eighth hotel on April 4, the Bulgari Hotel Tokyo.

When the Gansevoort hotel first opened back in 2004, the boutique property had no competition in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. “We were the only game in town, and it was just the right moment in time,” said Michael Achenbaum, the president and founder of the Gansevoort Hotel Group. That gave the boutique hotel a distinct advantage, as the neighborhood became arguably the nightlife capital in the aughts. The hotel — as well as other players, such as the restaurant Pastis and the lounge Lotus — helped speed up the growth of the Meatpacking District. But there was a tipping point. “I think there was a moment where it became too much, and the term ‘jump the shark’ was appropriate at the time,” Achenbaum said. Almost 20 years later, the neighborhood has morphed. More luxury shops like Gucci and Hermès have entered the space, Lotus is long gone, and packing plants are nowhere to be found — though Achenbaum believes there are still one or two left on the fringes of the district.

Yoshiharu Hoshino, the CEO of Hoshino Resorts was named the “master entrepreneur of the year” in Japan by the consultancy EY.

Mention Bentley or Fabergé, and the brands are instantly recognizable as paragons of luxury. It’s the type of brand recognition that equates to valuable equity. Yet, marketing luxury brands of this nature is about so much more than selling a product or service. 

Six Senses, the operator of luxury hotels, resorts, and spas, plans to add a product — clubs — under a new brand, Six Senses Place. Once several are open, the operator would like to create a membership service giving travelers access to the clubs worldwide.

As I sit with general managers and hoteliers around the world, there is a common lament: hiring. At the luxury level, a new crop of talent that lives and breathes the industry is difficult to find. The perception in the job market is that jobs in hotels or hospitality are an easy way to get yelled at our abused by feral guests, and laid off at a moment’s notice when conditions turn.